MoJo Author Feeds: Evan James | Mother Joneshttp://www.motherjones.com/rss/authors/30606
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enVendela Vida's Nonfiction Pickshttp://www.motherjones.com/riff/2010/04/vendela-vida-interview-nonfiction-recommendations
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<html><body><p>For a special section in our <a href="http://motherjones.com/toc/2010/05">May/June issue</a>, we asked some of our favorite writers about their favorite nonfiction books. Here are <a href="http://www.believermag.com/"><em>The Believer</em></a> cofounder and novelist Vendela Vida's answers: <br><strong><br>
Mother Jones:</strong> Which nonfiction book do you foist upon all of your friends and&acirc;&#128;&uml; relatives? Why?&acirc;&#128;&uml;</p>
<p><strong>Vendela Vida:</strong> For years I've been telling everyone to read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Random-Family-Drugs-Trouble-Coming/dp/0743254430/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1272493461&amp;sr=1-1"><em>Random Family:&nbsp;Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx</em></a> by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. LeBlanc followed two Latina girls in the Bronx&mdash;and by extension their families and boyfriends&mdash;over the course of 10 years. It's a work of journalism, but you feel you're seeing the drug dealers and boys and babies that populate these girls' lives through their own eyes.</p>
<p>Recently, I've been recommending Patti Smith's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Just-Kids-Patti-Smith/dp/006621131X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1272494186&amp;sr=1-1"><em>Just Kids</em></a>. I read it when it came out earlier this year, and its precise prose and honesty floored me. It made me want to be living in New York in my twenties all over again. It made me wish I had kept a journal as religiously as Smith evidently did. You could have never heard a Patti Smith song and still enjoy the book.<br><br><strong>MJ:</strong> Which nonfiction book have you reread the most times? What's so good&acirc;&#128;&uml; about it?</p>
<p><strong>VV:</strong> By virtue of having edited them, I've probably reread Nick Hornby's three collections of essays for the <em>Believer</em> (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Polysyllabic-Spree-Nick-Hornby/dp/1932416242/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1272493614&amp;sr=1-1"><em>The Polysyllabic Spree</em></a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Housekeeping-vs-Dirt-Nick-Hornby/dp/1932416595/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1272493614&amp;sr=1-2"><em>Housekeeping vs. the Dirt</em></a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Wrote-Money-Nick-Hornby/dp/1934781290/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1272493614&amp;sr=1-3"><em>Shakespeare Wrote for Money</em></a>) more than any other series of books. In his columns, Hornby chronicles the books he's read and the books he's bought and he discusses how they pertain&mdash;or don't pertain&mdash;to his life at the time. Read the columns over the course of a few years, and you'll really feel you've been living next door to a fellow reader, catching glimpses of his life while he goes on vacation, raises children, makes his way through many, many books, quits smoking, and quits quitting smoking. I still turn to the columns whenever I want to read something funny, and whenever I'm looking for suggestions of what to read next. It was thanks to Hornby's mention of LeBlanc's book in his column that I first read <em>Random Family</em>.&acirc;&#128;&uml;&acirc;&#128;&uml;&acirc;&#128;&uml;<br><strong><br>
MJ:</strong> Is there a nonfiction book that someone recommended to you when you &acirc;&#128;&uml;were a kid that has left a lasting impression? Who recommended it, and&acirc;&#128;&uml; why was it so special?</p>
<p><strong>VV: </strong>A professor of mine at Columbia recommended I read Joan Didion's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Slouching-Towards-Bethlehem-Essays-Classics/dp/0374531382/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1272493778&amp;sr=1-1"><em>Slouching Toward Bethlehem</em></a> when I was 21. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it completely changed the way I write and the way I read. I loved the way she inserted herself into the pieces&mdash;just the right amount. You get the sense when you're reading her essays that she's noticing things no one else does; there could be a thousand journalists in a room, and no one would pick up on the same truths and turns of phrase and details about an outfit that Didion does. And she describes even the most chaotic of times and places&mdash;the Haight-Ashbury in the late '60s, for example&mdash;in well-crafted and precise, marmoreal prose. I tell everyone who wants to write nonfiction that they have to start with<em><em> Slouching Toward Bethlehem</em></em>.<br><strong><br>
MJ:</strong> You edit a magazine that publishes a variety of essays and other &acirc;&#128;&uml;nonfiction. What would you say are some of the qualities that contribute to a compelling work of nonfiction?</p>
<p><strong>VV:</strong> &acirc;&#128;&uml;It's all in what the writer notices. If you're reading a piece of nonfiction and feel happier that the writer's the one making the observations, rather than wishing you were there to be making them yourself, then you know they're doing a good job. I read Bill Buford's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Among-Thugs-Bill-Buford/dp/0679745351/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1272493899&amp;sr=1-1"><em>Among the Thugs</em></a> in a day, and prior to reading it, I wasn't at all interested in British soccer. Actually, I'm still not interested in British soccer, but while reading the book I seemed to forget that minor detail. At a certain point, the guide is just as important as the scenery.</p></body></html>
RiffBooksWed, 19 May 2010 11:00:00 +0000Evan James57041 at http://www.motherjones.comDaniel Handler's Nonfiction Pickshttp://www.motherjones.com/riff/2010/04/daniel-handler-lemony-snicket-interview-nonfiction-recommendations
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<html><body><p>For a special section in our <a href="http://motherjones.com/toc/2010/05">May/June issue</a>, we asked some of our favorite writers about their favorite nonfiction books. Here are <a href="http://www.lemonysnicket.com/"><em>Lemony Snicket</em></a> author <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Handler">Daniel Handler</a>'s answers:</p>
<p><strong>Mother Jones:</strong> Which nonfiction book do you foist upon all of your friends and relatives? Why?</p>
<p><strong>Daniel Handler:</strong> Lately I've been giving people <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Cure-Fanatic-Amos-Oz/dp/0691126690"><em>How To Cure A Fanatic</em></a> by Amos Oz, a thoughtful, optimistic, and witty treatise on solving problems in the Middle East. It's an inspirational read not only on the current situation but on any situation that might seem to be without hope. Also, it's short, and I believe if one is foisting books they ought to be easily foistable.</p>
<p><strong>MJ:</strong> Which nonfiction book have you reread the most times? What&rsquo;s so good about it?</p>
<p><strong>DH: </strong>Joan Didion's book on California, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Where-I-Was-Joan-Didion/dp/0679752862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1271194629&amp;sr=1-1"><em>Where I Was From</em></a>, I find endlessly fascinating. But then again I'm a native Californian and thus grew up under the myth that I have no history, so I'm particularly hungry for books that overturn such illusions.</p>
<p><strong>MJ: </strong>Is there a nonfiction book that someone recommended to you when you were a kid that has left a lasting impression? Who recommended it, and why was it so special?</p>
<p><strong>DH: </strong>My cousin Ben gave me <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Witness-Our-Time-Alfred-EISENSTAEDT/dp/B000TNO3RE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1271194667&amp;sr=1-2"><em>Witness To Our Time</em></a>, a collection of documentary photographs by Alfred Eisenstaedt, for my bar mitzvah, and it introduced me to a vast European and American history in a way that I never would have encountered it. It's still a book I page through, and I've always been grateful to Ben (hi, Ben!) for the gift.</p>
<p><strong>MJ: </strong>Are there any books of music writing of which you are particularly fond? What do you think makes for good nonfiction music writing?</p>
<p><strong>DH: </strong>There is hardly any good music writing at all. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Ross_(music_critic)">Alex Ross</a>, the classical music critic for <em>The New Yorker</em>, is an exception, and his book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Rest-Noise-Listening-Twentieth-Century/dp/0312427719/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1271194741&amp;sr=1-1"><em>The Rest Is Noise</em></a> is a wonderful book, although an expensive one as anyone who reads it will go out and purchase loads and loads of classical recordings.&nbsp; Recently I read <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Darnielle">John Darnielle</a>'s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Black-Sabbaths-Master-Reality-33/dp/0826428991/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1271194777&amp;sr=1-1">book</a> on Black Sabbath, which is also fascinating, although the case for it being nonfiction is a slim one.<br>
&nbsp;</p></body></html>
RiffBooksMon, 17 May 2010 11:00:00 +0000Evan James53911 at http://www.motherjones.comFlying Lotus' Cosmic Collagehttp://www.motherjones.com/riff/2010/04/flying-lotus-cosmogramma-thom-yorke
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<html><body><p><strong>Flying Lotus<br><em>Cosmogramma</em><br>
Warp</strong></p>
<p>From its jarring, video-gamey first 10 seconds (which transition into lovely harp music driven by clickity electronic beats and buzzing atmospheric sounds, for a distinct opening track just over a minute long) to the sampled table-tennis game of its penultimate ditty, every moment of this experimental effort from producer and laptop musician <a target="_blank" href="http://www.flying-lotus.com/">Flying Lotus</a> smacks of the weird, the wondrous, and the well-collaged.</p>
<p>Unquestionably psychedelic (FlyLo and friends took over Dublab Studios in Los Angeles on <em>April 20th</em> to <a target="_blank" href="http://dublab.com/labnotes/brainfeeder-radio-presents%E2%80%A6cosmogramma-special-420/">produce</a> a tripped-out radio special), the LP is a sprawling, visionary landscape of dreamy strings, cartoonish synthesis, the occasional <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n692R3k7ie8">scissored-up Thom Yorke vocal</a>, and much, much more. It's quite a tangled thicket, and all the more delightfully ensnarling for it.</p>
<p>FlyLo, who is responsible for a lot of the bumper music during Cartoon Network&rsquo;s Adult Swim, already demonstrated a virtuosic talent for divergent musical tinkering with&nbsp;<em><a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGSKTP5sBmk&amp;feature=related">1983</a></em> and<em> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj2RIL4lgK4&amp;feature=related">Los Angeles</a></em>. <em>Cosmogramma</em>, a work of high style and innovation, shows him continuing to push his sound into otherworldly, wildly imaginative territory.</p>
<p>Listen:</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p></body></html>
<p style="font-size: 1.083em;"><a href="/riff/2010/04/flying-lotus-cosmogramma-thom-yorke"><strong><em>Continue Reading &raquo;</em></strong></a></p>RiffCartoonsMusicOffbeatMon, 03 May 2010 11:02:00 +0000Evan James56836 at http://www.motherjones.comVietnam Revisitedhttp://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2010/04/vietnam-revisited
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<html><body><p>Two interesting Vietnam-related things to check out today:</p>
<p>1. This morning, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wgbh.org/">WGBH Boston</a> launched the Vietnam Collection, an online video library drawn from their 1983 series <em>Vietnam: A Television History</em>. The series was originally recorded on film (actual film!), and now those hours of archival footage and interviews with key decision makers and vets have been digitized and released to mark the 35th anniversary of the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/saigon/framesource.html">fall of Saigon</a>. Browse the online library <a target="_blank" href="http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/org.wgbh.mla:Vietnam">here</a>.</p>
<p>2. I had an opportunity to speak with Karl Marlantes, author of the epic new Vietnam War novel <em>Matterhorn</em>, about a week ago. We discussed why it took more than 30 years for him to get the book published, talked about the craft of fiction, and touched on the reverberations of Vietnam. Read the interview <a target="_blank" href="http://motherjones.com/media/2010/04/interview-karl-marlantes-matterhorn-vietnam">here</a>.<br>
&nbsp;</p></body></html>
RiffBooksFilm and TVMilitaryFri, 30 Apr 2010 17:44:21 +0000Evan James57356 at http://www.motherjones.comA Vietnam Epic Uncovers Old Wounds: An Interview with Karl Marlanteshttp://www.motherjones.com/media/2010/04/interview-karl-marlantes-matterhorn-vietnam
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<html><body><p>In the early '70s, Karl Marlantes sat down to write about his tour of duty as a Marine Corps officer in Vietnam, where he'd been awarded a Navy Cross, a Bronze Star, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor&mdash;and two Purple Hearts. He'd hoped to write a book that would be "the Great American Novel about the Vietnam War," but soon realized his first effort was "sheer psychotherapy drivel." He started over, intent on creating a coherent manuscript, and by 1977 he had completed the first draft of an actual novel. Now, after more than 30 years of rejections from publishers, editors, and agents&mdash;some of whom advised him to change it to be about the Gulf War or Afghanistan&mdash;the nearly 600-page<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><em>Matterhorn</em> has not only seen the light of day but has become a bestseller. The long road to getting it published reflects an unwillingness to confront the war's legacy, says Marlantes, noting that "Vietnam has been the alcoholic elephant parent in the room for 40 years. No one wants to talk about it." The 65-year-old first-time novelist spoke with <em>Mother Jones</em> about his literary influences, how readers are reacting to the book, and how the divisiveness of the Vietnam era still reverberates.</p>
<p><strong>Mother Jones: </strong>Over the 35 years you spent writing and rewriting Matterhorn, you must have read a lot of other books. I'm curious about some of the other works that were important to you as a writer.</p>
<p><strong>Karl Marlantes: </strong>Really important books to me are the classics. I try very hard to read them well&mdash; you know, especially once I got serious about writing. So, reading Tolstoy several times&mdash;<em>War and Peace</em>, <em>The Kreutzer Sonata</em>&mdash;all those were really important to me. And I also followed up with Solzhenitsyn&mdash;here's an old Russian, here's a new Russian, and they're both really big books. I really liked reading him, he just appealed to me for some reason.</p></body></html>
<p style="font-size: 1.083em;"><a href="/media/2010/04/interview-karl-marlantes-matterhorn-vietnam"><strong><em>Continue Reading &raquo;</em></strong></a></p>MediaInterviewBooksMilitaryTop StoriesFri, 30 Apr 2010 10:00:00 +0000Evan James57106 at http://www.motherjones.comThose Lovable Kuchar Brothershttp://www.motherjones.com/riff/2010/04/kuchar-brothers-john-waters-thundercrack
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<html><body><p>Underground filmmaking twins George and Mike Kuchar finally get their due in a new documentary filled with illuminating interviews, hilarious banter, and priceless footage of their work. <em><a href="http://kucharfilm.com/">It Came From Kuchar</a></em> traces the origins of the brothers' unique aesthetic, their impact on subsequent generations of filmmakers, and their ongoing devotion to movie-making.</p>
<p>Born in New York in 1942 ("In the same hospital as <a href="http://www.tabhunter.com/">Tab Hunter</a>," adds George in an interview), the twins started directing films at an early age. They took cues from the conventions of 50s melodramas&mdash;Douglas Sirk films like <em><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGMwJxUyw8M">Imitation of Life</a></em>, Elizabeth Taylor in <em><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id2lU_IOhlw">Butterfield 8</a></em>&mdash;to create low-budget, histrionic films in their mother's Bronx apartment. Their films starred the likes of their neighborhood friend&rsquo;s middle-aged mother, and had titles like&nbsp;<em>Born Of the Wind</em>, <em>I Was a Teenage Rumpot</em>, and <em>The Devil's Cleavage</em>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>John Waters, Guy Maddin, and Wayne Wang all cite the Kuchars as an important influence. (In <em>It Came From Kuchar</em> Waters calls them "true underground filmmakers," says they should be knighted, and points to George's cinematic use of turds as a precursor to his own <em>Pink Flamingos</em>; Maddin, discussing their aesthetic, recalls the actors' "aggressively stylized voices" and remembers feeling as though "chocolate bars had been applied to the eyebrows," which are like no other eyebrows in the history of film.)&nbsp;</p>
<p>At a time when Andy Warhol was making movies in which <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqDHuaVFlyw">nothing happened</a>, and non-narrative filmmakers like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTGdGgQtZic">Stan Brakhage</a> were making experimental, formalist films, the Kuchar brothers pumped out one mutant Hollywood melodrama after another&mdash;works that, in a climate of hip, affectless filmmaking, were "<em>all</em> affect." <a href="http://www.jonasmekas.com/">Jonas Mekas</a>, film critic for the <em>Village Voice</em> at the time, speculated that the makers of&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml7V7LvSi0M">Barbarella</a></em> had stolen ideas directly from the Kuchar film <em><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQIyqtu7yms&amp;feature=related">Sins of the Fleshapoids</a></em>.</p>
<p>About a year ago, Fox News (in a segment titled "Perverts Put Out") <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/25551964/perverts-put-out.htm">slammed</a> the National Endowment for the Arts for funding screenings of the 1975 film <em>Thundercrack!</em> written by George Kuchar and directed by Curt McDowell, who was known for sexed-up films like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121492/"><em>Loads</em></a>. The result, a hilarious and perverse movie that features a wig pulled from a vomit-filled toilet bowl, a female gorilla monster named Medusa, and a combination of narrative melodrama and graphic sex, is enough to make any moral conservative denounce the arts.</p>
<p>The Kuchar brothers are alive and well, living in San Francisco and continuing to make films. George Kuchar has taught at the San Francisco Art Institute since 1971, where he has, according to John Waters, "inspired four generations of kids to make films."</p>
<p><em>It Came From Kuchar</em> is an excellent introduction to the hysterical, unique, and often genuinely moving films of the Kuchar brothers. Watch the trailer below:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>For a schedule of screenings, visit </em><a href="http://kucharfilm.com/?page_id=7"><em>kucharfilm.com</em></a><em>.</em></p>
<p><em>Follow Evan James on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/evanmj">Twitter</a>.</em></p></body></html>
RiffFilm and TVTue, 13 Apr 2010 10:49:00 +0000Evan James53606 at http://www.motherjones.comBooks: The Bad Lifehttp://www.motherjones.com/riff/2010/04/books-bad-life-mitterrand-suppressed
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<html><body><p>Some controversy has emerged around <em><a href="http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1593762607">The Bad Life</a></em>, a memoir written by Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Mitterrand. Published in France as L<em>a Mauvaise Vie</em> in 2005, it has sold over 250,000 copies to date. Known mainly for his career in television&mdash;and as the nephew of former French president Fran&ccedil;ois Mitterrand&mdash;the author was appointed French Minister of Culture and Communication in June 2009 by Nicolas Sarkozy. Then, in October, he was <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/mitterrand-fights-for-his-job-after-rent-boy-admission-1799299.html">targeted</a> by Marine Le Pen of the right-wing National Front party, who quoted the book out of context on French television, accusing him of paying underage boys for sex in Bangkok and calling for his resignation.</p>
<p>Mitterrand <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/08/france">defended himself</a> shortly thereafter, acknowledging that he had indeed paid for sex, but only with unambiguously consenting men of legal age, adding, "I absolutely condemn sex tourism, which is a disgrace. I condemn pedophilia, in which I have never participated in any way. The book is no way an apology for sex tourism, even if one chapter is a journey through that hell, with all the fascination that hell can inspire."&nbsp;</p>
<p>A fresh chapter emerged earlier this week, however, when <a href="http://www.softskull.com">Soft Skull Press</a>&mdash;publisher of the first English translation of <em>The Bad Life</em>, slated for release on April 20&mdash;received news from Mitterrand's French publisher that his planned US book tour in April would be canceled. No explanation was given other than that it was for political reasons. Soft Skull found that odd, to say the least. When I spoke to Carrie Dieringer, a publicity associate at the publishing house, she was as baffled about this suppression as I was. "Everything was put in motion," she said, referring to the planned book tour and media coverage. "They knew everything was happening. To cancel things abruptly just doesn&rsquo;t make a lot of sense."</p>
<p>Soft Skull stands behinds Mitterrand's memoir as a "complex, elegant, and introspective work," and thank goodness for that. <em>The Bad Life</em> is a stunningly candid and beautiful book. Described by its author as an "autobiography which is half real and half dreamed," it recounts his life as a child of privilege born into Paris's <em>haut bourgeois</em> sixteenth arrondissement, his experience of homosexuality, and a number of deeply felt personal relationships. Much of this is set in a social milieu of movie stars, politicians, renowned artists, and other public figures. <em>Haute soci&eacute;t&eacute;</em> gossip, however, takes a back burner to a fine literary sensibility that examines life with lucidity, perceptiveness, and humanity.</p></body></html>
<p style="font-size: 1.083em;"><a href="/riff/2010/04/books-bad-life-mitterrand-suppressed"><strong><em>Continue Reading &raquo;</em></strong></a></p>RiffBooksGay RightsMediaFri, 09 Apr 2010 23:46:00 +0000Evan James53381 at http://www.motherjones.comFilm: Strange Powershttp://www.motherjones.com/riff/2010/04/film-strange-powers-magnetic-fields-stephin-merritt
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<html><body><p><strong>May/June 2010 Issue</strong></p>
<p>The indie pop band the Magnetic Fields is best known for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/69-Love-Songs-Magnetic-Fields/dp/B00000JY1X"><em>69 Love Songs</em></a>, a three-disc concept album packed with addictive melodies and cheeky songwriting. <a href="http://www.strangepowersfilm.com/"><em>Strange Powers</em></a> profiles Stephin Merritt, the group's morose mastermind, illuminating his creative process (sitting in dark gay bars with cigarettes and a snifter of brandy) and influences (Doris Day, the Great American Songbook, cowboy songs). It's hard to resist Merritt's eccentric charms.</p>
<p><em>Read an interview with Merritt <a href="/stephin-merrit">here</a>.</em></p></body></html>
RiffFri, 09 Apr 2010 17:00:00 +0000Evan James52641 at http://www.motherjones.comBanksy Strikes Againhttp://www.motherjones.com/riff/2010/04/banksy-exit-through-gift-shop-mister-brainwash
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<html><body><p>Leave it to Banksy&mdash;the thoroughly clandestine English graffiti artist and subversive trickster&mdash;to create a film billed as "the world&rsquo;s first Street Art disaster movie." Hilariously titled <em><a href="http://www.banksyfilm.com/" target="_blank">Exit Through the Gift Shop</a></em>, it&rsquo;s a funny, fascinating documentary that confounds all expectations.</p>
<p>While the nuances of the stranger-than-fiction (and, as many have suggested, partially fictional) events leading up to the disaster in question are lost somewhat in a basic plot summary, let&rsquo;s give it a whirl: <a href="http://www.arts-gallery.co.uk/upload/useruploads/images/ThierryGuetta.jpg" target="_blank">Thierry Guetta</a>, the French owner of a vintage clothing shop in Los Angeles, is obsessed with videotaping everything around him. Through a family connection and a growing fixation, he finds himself documenting the "biggest counter-cultural movement since punk," following the likes of <a href="http://www.space-invaders.com/" target="_blank">Space Invader</a> and <a href="http://obeygiant.com/">Shepard Fairey</a>&mdash;who would later create <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/images/2009/01/22/faireyobamaposter.jpeg">the most ubiquitous Obama poster</a> in the world.</p>
<p>All of this leads Guetta to the infamously furtive Banksy, whom he befriends and videotapes under strict, identity-concealing conditions. (Throughout the film, Banksy appears hooded, his face in shadow, his voice mechanically distorted.) He films Banksy in the studio&mdash;creating stencils, showing off boxes full of counterfeit pound notes with Princess Di&rsquo;s face on them&mdash;and even follows him on a nearly ill-fated Disneyland stunt. (Banksy installs a Guantanamo Bay-related figure near one of the rides, effectively shutting down part of the park.)</p></body></html>
<p style="font-size: 1.083em;"><a href="/riff/2010/04/banksy-exit-through-gift-shop-mister-brainwash"><strong><em>Continue Reading &raquo;</em></strong></a></p>RiffVideoFilm and TVMediaOffbeatThu, 08 Apr 2010 17:26:38 +0000Evan James53111 at http://www.motherjones.comFeeling Nellie: A List of 10http://www.motherjones.com/riff/2010/03/music-monday-nellie-mckay-doris-day-review
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<html><body><p>Have you heard <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MyG4cCaNDo">Nellie McKay</a>'s tribute to Doris Day, <em><a target="_blank" href="http://www.nelliemckay.com/discography.aspx">Normal As Blueberry Pie</a></em>? I had the pleasure of seeing her perform songs from this and other albums at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco last week. Here are 10 little observations:</p>
<p>1. When McKay first steps out onto the stage, her strange charisma reaches me at the back of the room, at the table where I sit drinking. I sense that something special is about to take place, something unforgettable. I start to grin like an idiot, before anything has even happened. She is surely going to unravel us with her sweet and satirical musical persona.&nbsp;</p>
<p>2. Beautiful, somewhat unhinged, raveling and unraveling, McKay appears both iconic and eccentric in youth. Her digressive flair dazzles as she moves from a sweet Doris Day number to "<a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJZY-Czcp2E">Sa</a>ri," her piano-driven rap song, about three-quarters of the way into which she forgets a line of lyrics, laughs gamely, and simply screams, "Die motherfucker!" It calls to mind McKay's quoting Greta Garbo describing Day's curious allure: "Anyone who has a continuous smile on her face conceals a toughness that's almost frightening."</p>
<p>3. The girl's got <em>pizzazz!</em>&nbsp;A gift for linguistic play, a dynamic intellect, serious musical ability and style. No matter the direction this young woman veers, we're held in enchantment by that loverly voice. It guides us along.</p>
<p>4. Watch. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
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<p>5. McKay has <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/books/review/McKay-t.html">written earnestly</a> about Doris Day for the <em>New York Review of Books</em>, showing critical insight into her career and demonstrating what, as an iconic figure in popular culture, Day stood for: "What she possessed, beyond her beauty, physical grace and natural acting ability, was a resplendent voice that conveyed enormous warmth and feeling." In concert, the sincere commitment of McKay's homage disarms the intellect&mdash;especially as the word "resplendent" describes McKay's voice as well: supple and warm, gleaming brilliantly as it sanctifies (an ambling, almost humble "<a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ycj2SwFG3w">Sentimental Journey</a>") and subverts (her own "Mother of Pearl").&nbsp;</p></body></html>
<p style="font-size: 1.083em;"><a href="/riff/2010/03/music-monday-nellie-mckay-doris-day-review"><strong><em>Continue Reading &raquo;</em></strong></a></p>RiffVideoMusicMon, 05 Apr 2010 11:00:00 +0000Evan James52041 at http://www.motherjones.com